“ We are losing the war on drugs. Well you know what that implies? There’s a war going on, and people on drugs are winning it! Well, what does that tell you about drugs? Some smart, creative motherfuckers on that side.”
– Bill Hicks

The war on drugs in many ways captures the essence of how the American Progressive movement claims its moral omnipotence and feels the obligation to dominate man’s ways towards nothing but the elite’s conception of a “moral enlightenment” for society.

These same moral soldiers believe they can make man good through the use of force and persuasion by means of a gun. Thus is what governments seek to do. Thus is what evil men desire: to exercise their will over others, judge right and wrong based on their own disposition, and enact there subjective ideas into civil law.

This is not an argument against governments entirely (although the idea should never be too absurd for debate), but simply an argument against the psychology of governments and what most always drives their existence: the desires of men for more power and more control over other men.

Prohibition is one of the greatest examples of government “good intentions” actually hurting society more than benefiting it. The only reason we have stuck with such a bad idea for so long is because the decision to legalize drugs violates most people’s intuition, and even in the face of countless evidence we feel compelled to stick to the same bad idea.

But prohibition has a dangerous history, and even after Marijuana activists and War On Drugs opponents have reminded us time and time again about America’s past with alcohol prohibition, the public still remains largely ignorant.

The fact that products or commodities that would otherwise be sold freely for profit in a free market are now – by law – off the market immediately creates not only the opportunity, but a societal necessity for a black market, especially with drugs as high in demand as marijuana.

A black market creates criminals out of otherwise productive members of society – those who are merely providing a service that is desired by the marketplace. Black markets are a lifeline for gangs; the same gangs that take the lives of innocent people, and turn our children into violent animals. Prohibition and the black market push low-income families towards riskier behaviors just so they are able to provide food for their children and gives money-hungry gang leaders a safe haven to spread violence and hate.

What do we have to worry about if drugs are legalized? The most common complaint we hear on the news is that more of our children will begin to use them. While the effects are debatable, this is fallacious thinking. What is going to stop a drug dealer when he is already breaking countless laws from then selling to children? Drug dealers and gangs are already comfortable with carrying out illegal activity in face of profits, what would stop them from spreading their risk onto children?

However, if drugs (and marijuana in particular) are regulated similarly to how alcohol and tobacco are now, then they will begin to be sold in legitimate stores with safe and sensible regulations including not selling to those under a certain age. The people working these stores already have a safe and legal job – why would they dare risk it by attempting to sell to a minor?

This is the same way stores that sell alcohol and tobacco operate. Sure, children and teens will always find ways of cheating the system, but it is much more difficult when the drugs are being sold from those with clean hands and a clean record then when the hands are already covered in filth and continuous illegal behavior.

And just like that we can take a step forward in protecting our children from health hazards, decreasing the amount of criminal and violent activity in communities, providing legitimate jobs for those that didn’t already have them, and spending less money down the black hole known as the “War on Drugs.”

What could be better? And what a marvelous solution – once again man’s freedom proves to be the best ideal for the growth of a prosperous and peaceful society… far surpassing what the corrupted minds of politicians could ever dream up. The empirical evidence is there for anyone willing to see truth, and I firmly believe that within the next decade – if there is but one issue the American public’s opinion will shift – it is that prohibition and the War on Drugs has been nothing but a complete atrocity to our society, causing an incalculable amount of injustices, including a violation of our inalienable right to own our natural bodies. Prohibition needs to be done away with for good!